Collins: Bipartisan health deal still possible

Centrist Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Thursday said that it is still possible for Democrats and Republicans to reach a deal on a bipartisan healthcare bill.

Collins, who voted against the Senate healthcare bill in December, said that a deal would be contingent at White House outreach.

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"I believe that if the White House sat down with Republican leaders, that it is possible to forge a bipartisan bill," the Maine senator told reporters.

President Barack Obama pledged during his State of the Union address Wednesday night that he would not walk away from the healthcare negotiations that are currently stalled in Congress.

But Collins said that she is "a little confused because the President's speech last night seemed to be going in the other direction [of a bipartisan compromise]."

Obama defended the current healthcare efforts in Congress, which only two Republican lawmakers supported at any time during the process.

Collins said a bipartisan deal would have to "concentrate on healthcare costs, small business tax credits, some insurance reforms, such as interstate sale of insurance, and some medical liablility reforms, which are important to controlling costs."